Maria Taylor - Ladyluck

1. LadyLuck
2. Time Lapse Lifeline
3. It's Time
4. My Favorite Love
5. 100,000 Times
6. Green Butterflies
7. Broad Daylight
8. A Chance
9. Orchids
10. Cartoons and Forever Plans

Maria Taylor is set to release her third solo album titled Ladyluck on April 7. Teaming up with producer friends Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, Azure Ray and a host of Saddle Creek label mates), Mike Mogis and Lukas Burton and featuring collaborations with Michael Stipe, Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes and Mckenzie Smith of Midlake, LadyLuck showcases Taylor's ability to pull at your heart strings while proving she's not a woman down on her luck.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware

01 Beware Your Only Friend

02 You Can't Hurt Me Now 

03 My Life's Work 

04 Death Final 

05 Heart's Arms 

06 You Don't Love Me 

07 You Are Lost 

08 I Won't Ask Again 

09 I Don't Belong to Anyone 

10 There Is Something I Have to Say 

11 I Am Goodbye 

12 Without Work, You Have Nothing 

13 Afraid Ain't Me

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy will release his “biggest and most ambitious album,” Beware on March 16th via Domino Records. “Though Beware shares spit with its immediate predecessor released this past summer, Lie Down in the Light, it’s reach is longer and stronger, more grandiose. Where fiddle and steel contribute their rustic timbre alongside guitars and voices, a thickening thud of low tone rolls beneath, giving the record a bottom that’s fun to watch bounce in new clothes”...www.muzzleofbees.com

Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies

1. Midnight at the Movies 

2. What I Mean to You 

3. They Killed John Henry 

4. Mama's Eyes 

5. Dirty Rag 

6. Can't Hardly Wait 

7. Black Eyed Suzy 

8. Poor Fool 

9. Halfway to Jackson 

10. Someday I'll Be Forgiven for This 

11. Walk Out 

12. Here We Go Again 

If being the son of one of America’s greatest songwriters isn’t a hard enough burden to carry on your shoulders, how about sharing the name with one of American’s forgotten legends. Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle and name adoptee of the late Townes Van Zandt has not only been busy at work carving his own niche in the Americana world, but stepping outside of the shadow that people like Jakob Dylan could never have achieved. After honing his chops in the Nashville area, The Good Life was his humble introduction to the world at large. Midnight at the Movies is a record that tests the endurance of a rising star in the south, and carries the potential to shoot him out of the bar and into the Ryman Auditorium

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

01. This Tornado Loves You

02. The Next Time You Say Forever

03. People Got A Lotta Nerve

04. Polar Nettles

05. Vengeance Is Sleeping

06. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth

07. Middle Cyclone

08. Fever

09. Magpie To The Morning

10. I'm An Animal

11. Prison Girls

12. Don't Forget Me

13. The Pharaohs

14. Red Tide

15. Marais La Nuit

On March 3, 2009, Anti- Records will release the eagerly awaited new Neko Case album Middle Cyclone. The fifteen-track collection is Case's first release since 2006's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, the best-reviewed and best-selling album of her career.Middle Cyclone was produced by Case with Darryl Neudorf and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. It features Case backed by her core band - guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick - along with numerous guests including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys, and Giant Sand, among others. In addition to twelve new songs written by Case, Middle Cyclone includes covers of 'Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth' by Sparks, and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson. In 2006, SPIN Magazine called Case "one of pop music's best" voices, and Interview Magazine hailed her album Fox Confessor Brings The Flood as "one of the most original, beguiling, honest records of the year." The album also earned Case Female Artist of the Year honors from the PLUG Independent Music Awards, and a Top 10 placement in the Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop Critics Poll of the year's best releases. Fox Confessor was Case's first album to debut in the Billboard Top 100, and has sold nearly 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone...www.anti.com

Bedroom - La Casa Dins la Casa

1. El Suro De L'Amo

2. The Monster

3. Lucky Boy

4. Nits De Cels Vermells

5. The Gentle Breeze

6. Oh Lucky Boy

7. Llavis Mullats

8. Little Bird

9. Japanese Girl

Bedroom, to his credit for having been able to find the perfect name for their music. In his debut, Albert Aromar has created songs to enjoy in the privacy of a bedroom, especially in these winter days where too lazy to leave home and move to the stressful pace of the people. Bedroom, full cold snap, it's like a good cup of hot coffee when you get to the street: one of the most pleasant sensation. Flavors has looked into the mirror of those who likes to create an album of folk naked, but not cortavenas. There are around Dins La Casa La Casa and that a peaceful feeling that in his myspace quote Bedroom Bill Callahan, Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen. As in these disks, make the Bedroom key reason for its low, but rarely want the songs in this debut to take a tragic life. Nor do I say that Bedroom is the joy of the garden: there is some unease at vital points, but unless exceptions like 'Little Bird' cautious wager that is less formal and more playful. At times even closer to the exuberance of the last songs of M. Ward...www.hipersonica.com(w/ google translate)

Jenny Wilson - Hardships!

1. The Path

2. Like A Fading Rainbow 

3. Clattering Hooves 

4. The Wooden Chair 

5. Porcelain Castle 

6. Anchor Made Of Gold 

7. Bad Waters 

8. Only Here For The Fight 

9. Pass Me The Salt 

10. Motherhood 

11. Hardships 

12. We Had Everything 

13. Strings Of Grass 

Former first lady of Swedish avant-garde indiepop outfit First Floor Power, Jenny Wilson, is finally ready with the follow up to acclaimed solo debut, ‘Love And Youth’ (2006). Titled ‘Hardships’ it’s produced by Wilson herself and will be released February 23 on her own label Gold Medal Recordings. (Featuring guests Mapei, Simone Rubi and El Perro Del Mar)

Bon Iver - The Myspace Transmissions EP

1. For Emma
2. Flume
3. Lump Sum
4. Blindsided

Bon Iver visited with MySpace Transmissions for an exclusive performance...www.myspace.com

Jackie Leven - Men In Prison

Disk: 1 

1. Men In Prison 

2. Opening Remarks To Prisoners 

3. Extremely Violent Man 

4. Poortoun 

5. Call Mother A Lonely Field 

6. The Garden 

7. Classic Northern Diversions 

8. The Crazy Song 

Disk: 2 

1. Intro 

2. Looking For Love 

3. Plastic Irish Pubs In Europe 

4. Stranger On The Square 

5. Universal Blue 

6. Jackie's Great Records 

7. Single Father 

8. I Saw My Love Walk Into The Clouds 

9. When German People Call Me(On The Toilet) 

10. Paris Blues 

11. You've Lost That Loving Feeling

'Men In Prison', was recorded live in Bergen Men's Prison, Norway in 2000. A million miles away from Johnny Cash's exuberant prison recordings, the Norwegian prisoners were impassive, watchful and considered in their response to a great performance, but their gathering warmth is palpable and their appreciation heartfelt at the end of a blinding set of songs. Recorded live in 2002 at Cafe Muffathalle in Munich, with long term Jackie collaborators Michael Cosgrave [multi-instrumentalist] & Deborah Greenwood [vocals], 'Munich Blues' includes much excellent and typical Jackie humour. Both albums are recorded to the highest professional standards, as might be expected of two countries with a significant interest in obtaining the very best from artistic endeavour.).

Elvis Perkins - In Dearland

1. Shampoo
2. Hey
3. Hours Last Stand
4. I Heard Your Voice in Dresden
5. Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville
6. I’ll Be Arriving
7. Chains, Chains, Chains
8. Doomsday
9. 123 Goodbye
10. How's Forever Been Baby

XL Recordings is pleased to announce the forthcoming release from Elvis Perkins in Dearland. The album, self-titled, will be released on March 10, 2009. This album is the debut album for the band and at the same time is the follow up to Perkins' first release, the critically acclaimed Ash Wednesday.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland's new eponymous album feels very much like the second line to his exquisitely melancholic and much-hailed solo debut Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday gained Elvis a dedicated and reverent following for its nuanced meditations on death and grief — many moments on that first record felt as if the listener had tip-toed into the intimate confines of a private elegy, enveloped in that wondrous, old-soul quality of Elvis' voice.

There are still plenty of private moments on Elvis Perkins in Dearland, but Elvis is now joined by a talented trio of friends that toured with him in support of Ash Wednesday. Along with Elvis on guitar and lead vocals, Elvis Perkins in Dearland is Brigham Brough (upright bass, saxophone, vocals), Wyndham Boylan-Garnett (pump organ, guitar, harmonium, trombone, vocals), and Nick Kinsey (drums, percussion, banjo, clarinet, vocals). Many of the new songs on Elvis Perkins in Dearland were honed on the road by the four bandmates, whose natural ease with one another allowed them to constantly experiment with arrangements on the fly.

Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Shaw (Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Ween) and Elvis Perkins In Dearland, the album was recorded in Upstate New York in the latter part of 2008. Shaw recorded and mixed the album as well.

"On this new record we wanted to capture the spirit of our performances," drummer Nick Kinsey said. "The challenge was to get down that spontaneity." Perkins says, "This album is faster and younger than Ash Wednesday. Being in a studio with three other creatives instead of just one was a new thing for me. It takes four times as long to decide everything... but in the end, this kind of interplay made for much good.

Geoff Berner - Klezmer Mongrels

1. Shut In 

2. Luck in Exile 

3. The Whiskey 

4. Half German Girlfriend 

5. King of the Gangsters 

6. No Tobacco 

7. Play, Gypsy, Play 

8. Authentic Klezmer Wedding Band 

9. One Shoe 

10. High Ground 

11. Fukher

Vancouver bad boy Geoff Berner’s latest album is not a spectacular achievement in the field of music. Basically all of the music on Klezmer Mongrels is played by an accordion, violin, and what sounds like a djembe with a couple symbols. It isn’t supremely recorded and has absolutely no chance for mass appeal whatsoever, but, come hell or vampire weekend, I like this album. It’s just as fun and drunk as Gogol Bordello, yet it’s more coherent and not as loud. To get this album is to buy Geoff’s quirky personality and the vibe he’s going for, not necessarily the musicianship and fidelity of the recording. This is the campfire jam session style of klezmer punk.

Most songs mention booze and/or girls, with the possible exception of “No Tobacco” (an essential song that begs the world to not roll their joints with tobacco lest they sully the true taste and experience of BC bud). The lyrics are perfect for the form, delivering everything good, honest folk music should. They’re blunt and boozy, with a hint of “fuck this” and anything goes. Of course, it is a little confusing to hear Berner talk about trying to breed out the bad half of German culture in “Half German Girlfriend”, not the only time the subject is broached on the record, but it’s easy to live with considering its context.  Though I’ll never see the spectacular cover art by Kelly Haigh (who also did a great Carolyn Mark album) sail up the Billboard charts, it will never leave my collection. Here’s mud in your eye...www.popmatters.com

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

01. Everyone's At It  

02. The Fear 

03. Not Fair  

04. 22  

05. I Could Say 

06. Back To The Start  

07. Never Gonna Happen  

08. Fuck You  

09. Who'd Have Known  

10. Chinese  

11. Him  

12. He Wasn't There 

Bigger, brighter and more danceable than predecessor Alright, Still, this autobiographical album is chock-full of double standards, crashing generalisations, and taunts, giving a handy update on Lily's state of mind.

Opener Everyone's At It is a wonderful ball of contradiction. Pointing the finger at everyone, from those taking sleeping pills to those on crack, Lily admits that she's been there. Now, bored with all-nighters, it's those still awake that she's hectoring. Musically, it's a different story, with more celebratory old-skool ''voot-voots'' than you can shake an MDMA fuelled glow stick at.

Fear addresses London-Paper-Lily, who buys a beach in Jamaica, supports Kylie at a private party in Dubai, diets, and has a shoe closet the size of Brazil. Eminently danceable and slightly trancey, she apologises for her avarice, confidently blaming the system.

Musical rip-offs are still at large: Him sees Lily wondering about God (''His favourite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival''), to a backing track referencing Nico's These Days, while George Bush tribute, Fuck You, trips along to the Carpenters' Close To You piano. 

The ugly side of the album comes out in Not Fair, a pseudo country track which could give Victoria Wood a run for her money in comedy bad sex songs. Likewise, accordion-fuelled Never Gonna Happen glorifies using someone who loves her for sex.

22 is a unkind ditty about pretty women who find that, nearing 30 and single, they are worthless to society, leaving you wondering if Lily Allen is an unreconstructed male in a young woman's body.

He Wasn't There is a track about her dad's lack of parental responsibility, while calling him her hero. And Chinese appears to address her mother, who's always there for her, yet, ''I know it doesn't seem so fair but I'll send you a postcard when I get there''.

And therein lies the difficulty: the album's a piece of exquisitely produced, loveable pop, perhaps down to co-writer and producer Greg Kurstin of addictively catchy duo, The Bird And The Bee. But it would be rather lovely to be able to listen without the clattering opinions of this complex character...www.bbc.co.uk

Mirah - (A)Spera

1. Generosity  

2. The World Is Falling Apart  

3. Education  

4. Shells  

5. Country of the Future  

6. The Forest  

7. Gone Are the Days  

8. The River  

9. Bones & Skin  

10. While We Have the Sun

Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project

1. Mrs.Morris
2. Anna
3. Vittoria
4. Vanessa
5. Marisa
6. Ondine
7. Mr. Gowrie
8. Mrs. Morris (Reprise)

Bishop Allen - Grrr…

01. Dimmer

02. The Lion & the Teacup

03. South China Moon

04. Dirt on Your New Shoes

05. Oklahoma

06. The Ancient Commonsense of Things

07. True or False

08. Rooftop Brawl

09. Shanghaied

10. Don’t Hide Away

11. Cue the Elephants

12. The Magpie

13. Tiger, Tiger

Beirut - March of the Zapotec & Realpeople - Holland

March of the Zapotec:
1 El Zocalo
2 La Llorna
3 My Wife
4 The Akara
5 On a Bayonet
6 The Shrew

Realpeople 

Holland:
1 My Night With a Prostitute From Marseille
2 My Wife, Lost in the Wild
3 Venice
4 The Concubine
5 No Dice

M. Ward - Hold Time

1 For Beginners (AKA Mt. Zion)
2 Never Had Anybody Like You (feat. Zooey Deschanel)
3 Jailbird
4 Hold Time
5 Rave On (feat. Zooey Deschanel)
6 To Save Me (feat. Jason Lytle)
7 One Hundred Million Years
8 Stars of Leo
9 Fisher of Men
10 Oh, Lonesome Me (feat. Lucinda Williams)
11 Epistemology
12 Blake's View
13 Shangri-La
14 Outro (AKA I'm a Fool to Want You)

Alela Diane - To Be Still

1. Dry Grass & Shadows
2. White As Diamonds
3. Age Old Blue
4. To Be Still
5. Take Us Back
6. The Alder Trees
7. My Brambles
8. The Ocean
9. Every Path
10. Tatted Lace
11. Lady Divine

John Frusciante - The Empyrean

1. Before The Beginning
2. Song To The Siren
3. Unreachable
4. God
5. Dark/Light
6. Heaven
7. Enough Of Me
8. Central
9. One More Of Me
10. After The Ending
11. Today (Bonus track)
12. Ah Yom (Bonus track)

Antony and The Johnsons - The Crying Light

1. Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground
2.Epilepsy is Dancing
3. One Dove
4. Kiss My Name
5. The Crying Light
6. Another World
7.Daylight and the Sun
8. Aeon
9. Dust and Water
10. Everglade